Save Ginger Shulick and Contemporary Art on Staten Island

Save The Arts on Staten Island from distasteful political muscle. Ginger Shulick is under fire from slander in the community which will and has already started to affect the burgeoning art community here. grants could be taken away and repurposed to the wrong people who wish to stay insular.

Testimonials:

Don Porcella:

There are certain members of the community that are looking to oust Ginger Shulick from her position and are demanding that the COAHSI board and executive director (whom are all completely supportive of Ginger) publicly flog her and terminate her. Rumors are circulating that she is not professional enough to be in her position, and that she has no place dealing with tax payers dollars, that she is too involved in the community, etc. The list goes on and its becoming very personal and vicious. There is a COAHSI board of directors meeting tomorrow night to discuss terminating Ginger.

All of these things that are being said about Ginger are blatant lies and slander and we need to show solidarity for the arts in Staten Island. We need to make a stand right now so we have an arts scene that is inclusive of all ages and arts. Ginger Shulick and COAHSI are doing a great job of including contemporary artists who were unrecognized and under served until now. Take this opportunity to support an art scene that is more representative of what is happening here in Staten Island.

Please support Ginger Shulick by writing a letter regarding the quality of work she is
doing on Staten Island, and the dedication that she has put into everything she has done here. Ginger has done so many things in support of the arts in Staten Island for all artists and arts. She goes above and beyond her job by seeking out all artists and encouraging all of them to apply for grants. She is attracting really important art people to come to the island to be panelists on important art topics like public art. She is curating exhibitions throughout the island and she is committed to seeing this island's art scene develop.

I have never seen anyone work as hard as Ginger Shulick. She spends countless hours at her job and then spends her evenings attending performances and art events throughout Staten Island. Ginger has a Master's Degree from Columbia University in New York City. A degree which usually takes 2 years, she completed in 9 months while working full-time. Ginger is more than qualified to be doing her position and we are so lucky to have someone who really cares.

Ginger helped secure a prestigious Rockefeller Grant to investigate building an Arts Center on Staten Island. We need to support Ginger because we are so lucky to finally have a grants director who cares, has a vision, is motivated, is not corrupt, and is inclusive of all arts in Staten Island.

Brendan Coyle:

To whom this may concern,

This concerns everyone. My name is Brendan Coyle and I co-direct with Amanda Curtis the 1 year old gallery on Staten Island: The Assembly Room. I am also instrumental in beginning a grass roots gallery art walk circuit to take place on Second Saturdays starting in January 2010. I have recieved a COAHSI grant this year in collaboration with filmmaker Steven Lapcevic and i admit that my friend Ginger Shulick helped me get it. The way she did this was by noticing that I am one of the key players in starting a new contemporary arts scene in Staten Island, befriending me, and encouraging me to apply for a grant to accelerate my efforts to have a career as an artist here where I have lived for over 5 years. She has also leveled the playing field for everyone, especially for people like me who in the past would never apply to get a grant because it was the Islands best kept secret amongst a handful of archaic commercially driven craftspeople. She leveled the playing field by reaching out to a large variety of community members to serve on the panels. The truth is its never been more democratic than it is today. If Ginger has helped friends of hers get grants it is because she has become friends with the artistic people living here in the process of working with them on grants. There is nothing underhanded about it. Her job is to perform community outreach and increase the awareness of an opportunity that all can compete for. A grant or an award is given for excellence, it isn't a diplomatic participation award just for living here and having some sort of creative practice. I have sat on the panels as well in the past years and I am knowledgeable about the type of submissions being made. We should all support the artists that are now settling here to make this a better place. Politicians and Real Estate should also have an interest in the fresh blood carrying out modern artistic practices that create a cultural dialogue between this place and other more financially and culturally embellished boroughs. I am a qualified artist, I attended the top rated University Sculpture department in the country, Virginia Commonwealth University. My artist CV is scattered around the globe with exhibitions. It seems that alot of the people recieving grants are new to the process but not necessarily new to Staten Island. It is through the efforts of people like Ginger in this community that are allowing people to envision the possibility of turning this borough into a place where they can have an artistic practice and not just hide away and operate out of because theres more space and cheaper rent. For 4 years that's what I did and I conducted my artistic practice in the other boroughs and wouldn't even think of doing it here. However, I got my first grant under the previous leadership, when Ben Jacobs was still the coordinator and I got an overwhelming response from the panelists who chose my work to be granted in 2008, that they were so excited to have someone new recieve a grant, and someone that was young with a refreshing point of view. I know this sentiment exists powerfully in Staten Island, and if a few politically busy people are put out because they are not recieving grants perhaps they need to look inward at the work they are presenting to the community.